Dominated by carbon-rich swamps and forests proliferating across Earth's rocky surface, the Carboniferous period saw a boost in atmospheric oxygen and vast quantities of carbon dioxide trapped in what ...

This time period took place 359 to 299 million years ago. 3 min read The Carboniferous period, part of the late Paleozoic era, takes its name from large underground coal deposits that date to it.

Coal. It powered the industrial revolution and fueled the early development of the science of geology. When the geologic time periods were being named, mainly in Great Britain, the time during which ...

It made for a neat story: Question: Why did so much of the world’s coal form during the geologic period we now call the Carboniferous? Answer: Large tree-like plants evolved before fungi evolved the ...

If it weren't for the collapse, our ancestors might never have made it out of the swamps. The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse set the stage for a takeover that would be a crucial turning point in ...

A study reveals how the Sigillaria brardii species -- a fossil plant typical of peatlands and abundant in the flora of Europe and North America during the Upper Carboniferous -- colonized new areas in ...

Our burning of fossil fuels is, to an extent, a reversal of a process that happened millions of years ago. At one point, all this carbon was in the air. Over millions of years, life extracted it from ...

The same geologic forces that stitched the supercontinent Pangea together also helped form the ancient coal beds that powered the Industrial Revolution, report researchers. The consolidation of the ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. A captivating new species of arachnid from the late ...

In the swampy forests of the Carboniferous Period, 360 to 286 million years ago, dragonflies with two-and-a-half-foot wingspans darted among the giant ferns. Mayflies grew to canary size. Cockroaches ...

The Qaidam basin is one of three main oil and gas basins in Northwestern China, but its Carboniferous, formerly thought as a part of the metamorphic base of the basin, is a frontier formation without ...